Biometric Measurement in Software Engineering

Abstract

Biometric sensor technology provides new opportunities to measure physiological changes in the human body that can be linked to various psychological processes. In software engineering, these biometric measurements can be used to gain insights on fundamental cognitive and emotional processes of software developers while they are working. In addition, biometric measures may be used to provide better and more instantaneous tool support for developers, for instance by preventing defects from being introduced in the code or supporting focused work. In this book chapter, we motivate the use of biometric measurements, introduce common types of biometric sensors and measures, discuss how to choose the right set of them and considerations for analyzing the collected data. We also discuss work in the area of software engineering and recommend further reading.